This stunning book is part memoir, part cookbook - telling the story of how the iconic Miami restaurant Hy Vong came into being. I really enjoyed the multi-narrator storytelling, and learning about the resilient friendship between Tung Nguyen and Kathy Manning.

I was given access to the eARC of this book thanks to the authors, the publisher, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Mango and Peppercorns is a moving memoir of Vietnamese food, culture, and the search for family.  The book tells the story of Tung Nguyen’s childhood in rural Vietnam, a hard life full of work and commitment to family.  We journey with Tung from her small village, to the markets of Saigon, and her sudden escape as a refugee to America during the fall of Saigon where she meets Katherine Manning, who takes her in.  The book is told through the eyes and voices of Tung and Kathy, and later, Tung’s daughter Lyn, and is an exploration of identity and belonging. 

As much as this is Tung’s story, it is equally Kathy’s story, as we follow her journey from a small girl in Iowa to sharing her home with several Vietnamese refugee families and setting up a small restaurant with Tung - Hy Vong, ending as one of Miami's most celebrated and beloved restaurants.  Tung’s voice is often harsh; her recollections and expectations painful.  Kathy is ditzy and forgetful, and often criticised by Tung. Even with these hardships, it is food that serves as the glue for this unlikely chosen family.  Tung’s culture shines through in the recipes scattered throughout the memoir; rich and unctuous flavours, salt, heat and spice. But this is not a typical cookbook.  You won’t find fancy coloured pictures of the recipe outcome, but you will find pictures of the protagonists in the middle of the book (something I greatly appreciated).  

This is a memoir told around and through Vietnamese cooking. It is the constant in everything, from every time, and every place in the book.  The simple message is a reminder that food brings people together, transcends culture and language, and can build love, belonging, and community. 

3.5 stars

Mango and Peppercorns by Tung Nguyen, Katherine Manning, and Lyn Nguyen is a memoir about a famous Miami restaurant and how it came to be, how it introduced the region to Vietnamese food, and how it survived despite the odds thanks to the unlikely friendship of two strong and very hard working women. I am so glad to have read it.

I am an unconditional fan of Vietnamese food - my comfort dish is in fact the pho which I used to eat once a week as a baby and later as a teen in a hole in the wall little place who didn’t have much else on their menu. All my childhood as we lived away from any good vietnamese restaurant I craved those silken rice noodles, comforting beef broth and piles of fragrant herbs. Reading that book was like sinking in the warmth of that soup. It was a fascinating tale and I loved the recipes at the end of almost every chapter.

Tung’s story as a refugee from the countryside Vietnam is heart wrenching. Her life seems so full of hardship and efforts, luckily rewarded, but at such a high cost. I really am thankful to have heard a story that must have been so hard to tell. I do hope she can rest now and feel at peace despite being uprooted the way she was, cut away from her family, unappreciated by them despite being the most important thing for her and having to reconcile her unusual path with traditional views of success.

The book offers many insights into Vietnamese culture, the hardness, social pressure and hardship they face. A lot I recognise from other Asian cultures which always demand so much from each, and are so thankless towards women. I am so glad that those two were able to build what they did, but the book really put into light how much harder it is for women, how if they are married they often are expected to fall into a supportive role rather than shine… 

A riveting tale of success from a talented woman and the person who believed in her, and the daughter she fought for. I recommend it to people who love to read about women role models, and anyone who enjoys Vietnamese food.

First things first - I totally love this cover. This is an alluring compilation of recipes on Vietnamese cooking, alongside a narrative of friendship, faith, harmony that blends in the American dream and the refugee story. A delightful read, that I would recommend to all readers that love food and getting to know people.

Mango and Peppercorns is exactly the book I needed to lift my spirits in a time when America is trending increasingly isolationist with regards to the rest of the world.  This memoir tells the story of Tung Nyugen, a Vietnamese woman who sought refuge in Miami following the Vietnam War, and Katherine Manning, an American graduate student who took Tung and 10 other refugees into her home.  Together, Tung and Kathy came together, sometimes clashing over their personalities and cultural differences, to create Hy Vong, one of Miami's most celebrated and beloved restaurants. 
From the bright cover to the mouth-watering recipes from both Tung and Kathy, Mango and Peppercorns invites readers to snuggle up for a story that is part history, part friendship, and a whole lot of flavor.

This book is delightful. I so enjoyed reading Tung and Kathy's story. The food especially, it came alive. I haven't had the chance to try any of the recipes yet, but I'm so excited to. An extraordinary story, wonderfully told, and a worthwhile read for anyone who loves food or Vietnam.

I loved this book! The food and the prose tied together perfectly and I felt like I learned a lot about both the people and the cuisine.

I was expecting this to be more of a traditional cookbook, but Mango and Peppercorns is more of a memoir with some recipes included. I really enjoyed it! I won't necessarily be making many of the recipes - there's a lot of meat and fish sauce in here - but they sounded delicious for meat eaters. I loved reading about how they set the restaurant up, and it definitely made me want to go to Miami and eat. A really enjoyable read.

This unique memoir records the story of two women with vastly different cultures and personalities  who became friends, then family, and created a restaurant and a life together. 

Told in both their voices (with some additional passages by their daughter), you get the benefit of reading most stories from both of their perspectives, a singular experience that I completely enjoyed. Nguyen is a Vietnamese refugee with a harrowing tale of escape at the end of the Vietnam War and Manning her eventual sponsor in the United States. Their unlikely friendship blossomed into family the way it sometimes can and they eventually built a life together raising Phuong Lien (Lyn), Tung’s daughter, and creating a restaurant featuring Nguyen’s amazing talent for creating unparalleled, delicious food. 

Included in the book are the recipes many of Nguyen’s signature dishes, which is frankly distracting, since you simultaneously want to put down the book to make the amazing sounding food and also want to keep reading to find out how each part of their fascinating story unfolds. 

This touching story has something for everyone, whether you love hearing people’s coming-to-America tales, you’re a bit of foodie and love exploring new flavors and new recipes, or if your heart is touched by the stories of found family.

This book was received as an ARC from Chronicle Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

If you want inspiration and are a foodie like me you can't get any better than Mango and Peppercorns. Tung's story warmed my heart and at parts brought tears to my eyes. No matter how tough things were for Tung, he wanted the American Dream to share his recipes from Vietnam with the world. Katharine is such a strong woman believing in Tung which is what he needed most and the flavors just won her over. I also loved how each chapter ended with a recipe to try for yourself. I am a huge lover of Pho and can't wait to try Tung's grandmother's version which I am sure is full of flavor and delicious. I know this story also will warm the hearts of our patrons too and I can't wait to share it with them.

We will consider adding this title to our TX Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

#MangoandPeppercorns #NetGalley

Special thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle books for providing me with ARC.

I loved this book and the diaries in it, the recipes also so helpful.

I really like the idea of a memoir with recipes thrown in there.  I enjoyed this tory of refugee and host and their struggles to make it all a success. Both women are very interesting and very different.  Which makes their success all the more fascinating.  The recipes scattered throughout look and sound wonderful!

I really enjoyed this cookbook/diary. It is really beautifully written. I liked the different perspectives that we get, from an American and Vietnamese cultures. Also the recipes had my mouth watering! Its hard to really explain the depth of these characters and what you come out feeling from this book. I really admired these characters and their ability to give to each other and learn from each other. A book I highly recommend! 

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

Date reviewed/posted: December 7, 2020
Publication date: March 16, 2021

When life for the entire universe and planet turns on its end and like everyone else you "have nothing to do" while your place of work is once again closed and you are continuing to be in #COVID19 #socialisolation as the #secondwave is upon us,  superspeed readers like me can read 300+ pages/hour, so yes, I have read the book … and many more today.

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.  

From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.

A powerful memoir of resilience, friendship, family, and food from the acclaimed chefs behind the award-winning Hy Vong Vietnamese restaurant in Miami.

Through powerful narrative, archival imagery, and 20 Vietnamese recipes that mirror their story, Mango & Peppercorns is a unique contribution to culinary literature. 

In 1975, after narrowly escaping the fall of Saigon, pregnant refugee and gifted cook Tung Nguyen ended up in the Miami home of Kathy Manning, a graduate student and waitress who was taking in displaced Vietnamese refugees. This serendipitous meeting evolved into a decades-long partnership, one that eventually turned strangers into family and a tiny, no-frills eatery into one of the most lauded restaurants in the country. 

Tung's fierce practicality often clashed with Kathy's free-spirited nature, but over time, they found harmony in their contrasts—a harmony embodied in the restaurant's signature mango and peppercorns sauce.

Although this was categorized on Netgalley under Cookbooks it is a memoir with a few yummy recipes. Both the women are fascinating and their dichotomy made it a fascinating read. I cannot imagine them working together much less owning one of the USA's most acclaimed restaurants. A definite book choice for people who love to read about resilience and triumph with some great recipes as a bonus.

As always, I try to find a reason to not rate with stars as I simply adore emojis (outside of their incessant use by "🙏-ed Social Influencer Millennials/#BachelorNation survivors/Tik-Tok and YouTube  Millionaires/snowflakes / literally-like-overusers etc. " on Instagram and Twitter... Get a real job, people!) so let's give it 🥭🥭🥭🥭🥭
(first time I have used HAT emoji!)

This multi-narrator memoir offers a view into the lives of a Vietnamese refugee and her American host. Through their narratives and reflection Nguyen (the Vietnamese refugee) and Manning (her host) share the hardships, grit, and determination required to make their American Dreams a reality.

Readers are confronted with the complexity of the refugee experience and root for not only the success of Nguyen as she begins her new life, but also that of her young daughter, whose voice becomes a third perspective in the memoir.

Woven throughout the memoir are mouth-watering recipes that tie into the chapters, which offers culinary intrigue to readers regardless of past cooking experience!

**I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a lovely cookbook/diary.  Beautifully written from an American and Vietnamese perspective with amazing recipes.  You come out of it admiring the spirit of love and giving.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.